Ratings On Australian Major Banks And Macquarie Affirmed As Systemwide Risks Ease; Outlooks Remain Negative

We see a positive trend in industry risk reflecting the Australian banking system's improving funding profile in the past 10 years. In our opinion, the downside to economic risks facing Australian financial institutions due to the COVID-19 outbreak and containment measures is also receding. We now view the economic risk trend as stable. We are affirming our ratings on the four major Australian banks and Macquarie Bank Ltd. The outlooks on these five banks remain negative. The negative outlooks mirror that on Australia and reflect a one-in-three likelihood that we will lower our ratings on these banks in the next two years. MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) April 27, 2021--S&P Global Ratings today said it has affirmed its 'AA-/A-1+' ratings on

...April 27, 2021 - We see a positive trend in industry risk reflecting the Australian banking system's improving funding profile in the past 10 years. - In our opinion, the downside to economic risks facing Australian financial institutions due to the COVID-19 outbreak and containment measures is also receding. We now view the economic risk trend as stable. - We are affirming our ratings on the four major Australian banks and Macquarie Bank Ltd. The outlooks on these five banks remain negative. - The negative outlooks mirror that on Australia and reflect a one-in-three likelihood that we will lower our ratings on these banks in the next two years. MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) April 27, 2021--S&P Global Ratings today said it has affirmed its '##-/A-1+' ratings on the following four major Australian banks: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB), and Westpac Banking Corp. (Westpac). At the same time, we affirmed...

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